A number of ranked play improvements have also been made with the start of 2018 Ranked Season 3, including the addition of a third ban, rank decay, seeding changes, and Hero League matchmaking adjustments. Read on for details.

Third Ban

A third Hero ban has been added to draft modes as part of the initial ban phase.

During the initial ban phase, teams will alternate until each has banned two Heroes.

Ban and pick times have been adjusted in order to offset the addition of the new ban.

The number of level 5+ Heroes required to participate in Hero League has been increased from 14 to 16 to ensure players will always have a Hero available if they pick last.

Rank Decay

Diamond, Master, and Grand Master Hero League players who have placed in the current season but haven't completed any games in a while will be considered “inactive”.

Once a player becomes inactive, they will receive a small amount of rank and MMR decay each day until they complete one Hero League match.

Diamond, Master, and Grand Master each have their own threshold for inactivity.

Players can earn additional “grace period” days by regularly playing Hero League matches during the current season.

Inactive players can avoid decay and regain active status by playing a single Hero League match to completion.

League

Inactive Days Before Decay

Extra "Grace Period" Days

Diamond

20

10

Master

15

10

Grand Master

10

10

Seeding Changes

Players who enter ranked play for the first time can no longer be seeded into placement matches higher than Gold 5.

Players who return to Hero League after an extended break will no longer be re-seeded into placement matches based on their performance in other modes.

Hero League Matchmaking Changes

Ratings Rather Than Points

For Master and Grand Master players, the Master-level players they are matched with and against are now determined by skill rating, and rank points no longer play a role.

This should provide better experiences for players of very high skill levels who start playing later in a season.

These players' games should have allies and opponents of more consistent skill levels, which also match their own.

Match Quality Restrictions and Notifications

Players below Master who have waited fewer than three minutes in queue will not be placed into any matches that are outside of the game quality restrictions that would have been used if the match had been formed around that player.

Players will now receive a notification in the UI when these quality restrictions are expanded in order to help them find a match more quickly.

Stricter Rank Difference Requirements

Master and Grand Master players will now only be matched with allies and opponents who are within 1 division of their own ranks. This means:

Master players can be matched with players who are either ranked Diamond 1 or Grand Master, but never both.

Grand Master players will not be matched with players below Masters.

This restriction will not loosen for players in Europe and North America. However, it can loosen for players in other regions after they have waited in queue for 1 hour.

Stricter Rating Differences

Master and Grand Master players now have narrower ranges of acceptable skill ratings for the players they are matched with. For example:

It is extremely unlikely that a top Grand Master player will be matched with a Master who is on the cusp of demotion to Diamond.

If a Master player is placed into a Grand Master game, it is because that player's skill rating is very similar to that of the Grand Master players.

In this situation, the Master player's ranked points have not yet caught up to their rating.

Summon a Banshee that assists Raynor. The Banshee deals 96 damage per second and regenerates 75 Health per second if it hasn't taken damage in the last 4 seconds. Can reactivate to retarget or move the Banshee.

The Banshee respawns automatically after 45 seconds.

Talents

Level 1

Seasoned Marksman (Passive)

Removed.

Scouting Drone (Active)

Removed.

New Talent: Veteran Marksman (Trait)

Quest: Every time the primary target of Give ‘Em Some Pepper is a Hero, permanently increase its damage bonus by 0.75%.

New Talent: Ace in the Hole (Passive)

Deal 30% more damage to Stunned or Slowed enemy Heroes.

New Talent: Exterminator (Passive)

Basic Attacks deal 50% more damage to Minions, Mercenaries, and Monsters. This is increased to 100% while Inspire is active.

Developer Comment: We're extremely excited to bring Raynor's long-
awaited rework to the Nexus! We've been reading and absorbing all the amazing
feedback that you have sent us over the past year and think the new design
will do him justice. We've massively increased his wave-clear potential with a
new Trait and completely overhauled his Talent tree (one of the oldest in the
game). Raynor mains should have a whole new set of tools to play around with
while new users should still be able to pick him up and right-click their way
to victory. We have been having a ton of fun with the changes and hope you do
as well. As always, please send us any feedback you have and get ready to fill
your enemies full of daylight!

Demon Warriors now deal a small amount of damage to nearby enemies every second.

Health increased from 365 to 390.

Attack damage reduced from 37 to 28.

Attack range reduced from 1.5 to 1.

Movement Speed reduced from 4 to 3.6.

Mana cost reduced from 40 to 30.

All Shall Burn (E)

New functionality:

Channel a beam of death on an enemy, dealing 136 damage per second for 2.5 seconds. If the Channel lasts its full duration, deal an extra 272 damage to the target.

Azmodan's Movement Speed is reduced by 30% while Channeling.

Cooldown increased from 6 to 8 seconds.

Mana cost changed from 12 per second to a flat 30 Mana.

Range reduced from 7 to 6.

Demonic Invasion (R)

New Functionality:

Rain a small army of Demonic Grunts down on enemies, dealing 65 damage per impact. Grunts deal 42 damage, have 750 Health and last up to 8 seconds. When Grunts die they explode, dealing 65 damage to nearby enemies.

Grunt Health increased from 365 to 750.

Grunt Health now decays over 8 seconds.

Grunt attack damage reduced from 51 to 42.

Cooldown reduced from 100 to 90 seconds.

Mana cost reduced from 100 to 60.

New Heroic Ability: Tide of Sin (R)

Activate to make the next Globe of Annihilation cost no Mana and deal 50% more damage. 20 second cooldown.

Talents

Level 1

Taste for Blood (Q)

Removed.

Sieging Wrath (Q)

Removed.

Gluttony (Q)

Moved from Level 4.

New functionality:

Increase the number of stacks of Annihilation gained by hitting Heroes with Globe of Annihilation from 2 to 3.

Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, each enemy hit by Globe of Annihilation reduces its cooldown by 0.25 seconds, doubled against Heroes.

New Talent: Greed (Q)

Increase the timeframe in which Minion kills grant Annihilation from 1.5 to 3 seconds.

Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, Globe of Annihilation's range is increased by 33% and the damage it deals against Minions and Mercenaries is increased by 20%.

New Talent: Wrath (Q)

Basic Attacks against Heroes under 75% Health grant 1 Annihilation.

Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, hitting a Hero with Globe of Annihilation increases the damage of Azmodan's next Basic Attack against them within 4 seconds by the amount of Annihilation he has.

Level 4

Hellish Hirelings (Trait)

Removed.

Army of Hell (W)

New Functionality:

Summon Demon Warrior spawns an additional Demon, but its cooldown is increased by 10 seconds.

If All Shall Burn channels for its full duration on a Hero, its cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds.

New Talent: Hell Rift (E)

If the channel lasts its full duration, a Demon Warrior is summoned at your target and your Demon Warriors deal 100% increased damage for 4 seconds.

New Talent: Total Annihilation (Q)

Globe of Annihilation damages Heroes for an additional 5% of their maximum Health.

Level 20

New Talent: Siegebreaker (R)

Azmodan's Demons deal 50% increased damage to Structures.

New Talent: Black Pool (R)

Globes of Annihilation empowered by Tide of Sin also leave a Black Pool at their impact location for 5 seconds. Enemies within the pool lose 8 Armor per second, and take 56 damage per second.

New Talent: Pride (Q)

After gaining 400 Annihilation, Globe of Annihilation's area is increased by 15% and its damage is increased by 100.

New Talent: Trample (Active)

Activate to charge a short distance, dealing 240 damage and Slowing enemies caught in the path by 60% for 1 second. 60 second cooldown.

LEVEL (TIER)

Azmodan Talents

1 (1)

(!) Greed (Q)

(!) Gluttony (Q)

(!) Wrath (Q)

—

4 (2)

Army of Hell (W)

Hellforged Armor (W)

Battleborn (Passive)

—

7 (3)

Art of Chaos (Q)

Bombardment (Q)

Master of Destruction (E)

—

10 (4)

Demonic Invasion (R)

Tide of Sin (R)

—

—

13 (5)

Brutish Vanguard (W)

Cydaea's Kiss (Q)

Chain of Command (Trait)

—

16 (6)

Total Annihilation (Q)

Hell Rift (E)

Sin's Grasp (E)

—

20 (7)

Siegebreaker (R)

Black Pool (R)

Pride (Q)

Trample (Active)

(!) indicates a Quest Talent.

Italic text indicates a NEW Talent.

Bold text indicates a MOVED Talent.

Developer Comment: In Azmodan's update, we've embraced and expanded his
role as a late-game siege monster. He now has a baseline stacking quest for
Globe of Annihilation that's a hybrid of the old Taste for Blood and Sieging
Wrath Talents. Whether you're focusing on PvE or PvP objectives you should see
Globe of Annihilation become more powerful as a game goes on. To compensate
for this increase in baseline power, we've made Globe's impact area more
quickly visible to enemies, which will give them a chance to dodge their
impending doom. We've also made major mechanical changes to Black Pool (now
called Tide of Sin) and focused it solely on Globe's damage without the need
for targeting or alt-casting. Demon Warriors are now individually stronger and
deal constant AoE damage, but are slower and no longer have multiple charges.
The new All Shall Burn should be much more consistently useful and certain
Talent combinations can be used boost Azmodan's short to mid-range potential.
Demon Lieutenant (formerly General Of Hell) is still a global pushing ability,
but is less reliant on needing a large Minion wave to get value. Demonic
Invasion's changes are geared towards expanding its use in PvP scenarios
without affecting its old structure-bustin' potential. Dropping an Invasion on
the enemy team will force them to run away or take a large amount of delayed
damage.